TALLADEGA, Ala.—NASCAR driver Jeffrey Earnhardt doesn’t plan for his mixed martial arts hobby to turn into a second career.

But the idea of an Earnhardt whaling on an opponent might appeal to Earnhardt Nation, NASCAR’s most avid fan base, so he might want to reconsider if driving a racecar doesn’t pan out.

Earnhardt, the grandson of Dale Earnhardt Sr. and nephew of Dale Earnhardt Jr., will race Saturday in the Nationwide Series at Talladega Superspeedway. Then his next competition will come not in a racecar, but in the ring May 22 at a bar in North Carolina.

“The fans are real excited. … They definitely expect us to be tough—my grandpa was a tough guy,” Earnhardt said Thursday. “They expect you to go out there and beat someone up because that’s how racing was back in the old days.

“It’s not so much like that anymore. Hopefully I can prove racecar drivers are athletes and we can be tough, too.”

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Though Earnhardt Sr. was not a fighter, he was considered one of NASCAR’s toughest customers. Nicknamed “The Intimidator,” the seven-time Cup champion became a NASCAR legend with his aggressive, rough-and-tumble style on the track. That led to a quite a few enemies during his Hall of Fame career.

Just how significant is a NASCAR driver with the Earnhardt name getting into a fight?

The poster for the night of matches touts Earnhardt’s debut, which is scheduled for the Tuesday between the Sprint All-Star Race and Coca-Cola 600 race weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He also has a website that will stream the bout on a pay-per-view basis.

That might seem like a lot of hype, but not every fighter is the grandson of “The Intimidator” and one of NASCAR’s greatest stars.

“Think about the Rusty Wallace deal with the water bottle (Dale threw at him) at Bristol,” said Jeffrey’s father, Kerry Earnhardt, remembering one of his father’s more infamous displays of emotion. “Everybody went crazy. And it was just a water bottle.

“Jeffrey in there, sparring with these guys, if he has a few successful fights, it’s going to be good for him.”

The venture into MMA got started when Jeffrey Earnhardt needed to satisfy his competitive juices with more than just his partial Nationwide Series and Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series schedules for Rick Ware Racing.

A wrestler in high school, Earnhardt tried mixed martial arts and got hooked once he started training in December. Athletic and scrappy, he could have what it takes to be successful.

The 22-year-old Earnhardt won’t wear any extra protection to protect himself from head or hand injuries—which could affect his performance in a racecar.

“It’s a deal where you risk getting hurt, breaking a hand, whatever it may be,” Jeffrey said. “It’s a risk you’ve got to be willing to take. If you want to play, you’ve got to pay, you know?

“It’s something I’ve agreed I’m going to be OK with. If I get hit and break a hand, then I guess I’m getting my hand fixed. I’m still doing whatever I can to race.”

The thought of him getting hurt will keep his stepmother at home and his father unsure if it’s the smartest thing to do.

“I don’t know what he’s thinking,” said Kerry, who also raced for a while in ARCA and the Nationwide Series. “He was always good at wrestling and that type of stuff and working out all the time. A good opportunity came up for him to try it out and see how it goes.

“The only thing I have about it is after a couple of knockouts, NASCAR isn’t going to think much about that and him racing (after) a few concussions.”

But if he doesn’t get knocked out, could it become a second career? Jeffrey Earnhardt stresses that he’s just fighting for fun, that he wants to continue his career in racing.

His father isn’t so sure, though, that mixed martial arts won’t turn into a career for his son.

“I don’t think he really thought it would be this big to begin with as far as all the exposure he’s gotten from it and everything,” Kerry said. “If the opportunity comes up and he’s able to do it full time, I don’t know if he’ll be able to say, ‘No.’